On the Catholic liturgical calendar on Sunday, June 18, was solemnity of Corpus Christi, i.e. The Body and Blood of Christ. All Christian churches celebrate Christ’s giving his body and blood on the cross for our salvation. Some Christian churches believe that the bread and wine of what is usually thought of, as the “The Lord’s Supper” is purely a symbolic remembrance of Christ’s body and blood. Other churches have different views.
The Catholic Church believes that when the bread and wine are consecrated by the priest, they actually become the body and blood of Christ. This idea that they actually become the body and blood is known as “the real presence”.
Why do Catholics believe in the real presence? We do so because this is what Christ taught. To be faithful followers we should take him at his word. When Christ tells us that “this is my body,” we should rely on Proverbs 3:5, which states, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding”.
At the last supper in Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus teaches the real presence. For example, in Matthew 26 we read, “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take, eat. This is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying drink it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28)
There is no last story in the Gospel of John, but the same truth of the real presence is taught in one of the most moving passages in the New Testament in John 6. In this chapter Jesus tells us that he is the bread of life.
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.“ This was a new and hard teaching for many of his followers. “As a result many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore” Jesus the asked “the twelve” if they wanted to go also? Peter responded, “Where would we go Lord? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:54-68)
In none of these passages from the synoptic gospels or John can the text be read as teaching that the bread and wine are only symbolic.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reinforces the centrality of Eucharist and the real presence for our faith. “In the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole
spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.” (CCC 1324)
“It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the word of Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion.” (CCC 1375)
As a conclusion, we can quote St. John Chrysostom: “It is not man that causes the things offered to become the body and blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s. This is my body, he says. The word transforms the things offered”
Richard Sherlock is a professor of philosophy at USU with advanced training in theology, ethics, and philosophy at Harvard. He has written more than extensively on theological and philosophical ethics and religious history.
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